St. Mary Manor to be sold

LANSDALE — Nearly a year after the Archidocese of Philadelphia placed six nursing homes and one assisted living facility — including St. Mary Manor in Lansdale — operated by Catholic Health Care Services (CHCS) on the market, an agreement of sale with Center Management Group for $145 million was announced Tuesday.

Headquartered in Flushing, New York, CMG “CMG is a regional health care management company that specializes in long term care. Its skilled nursing operations include short term rehabilitation, sub-acute care, long term care and ventilator care. CMG also offers independent and assisted living, as well as homecare, and adult medical day care programs.

“CMG currently owns and operates 15 nursing homes in New York and New Jersey. Two of these homes, formerly known as the Bishop Mugavero Center for Geriatric Care and the Holy Family Home, were once part of the Saint Vincent’s Catholic Medical Centers of New York System, and continue to be operated in a Catholic, faith-based manner,” according to a statement from the archdiocese.

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In a 2013 interview with The Reporter, archdiocesan spokesman Kenneth Gavin said selling the Catholic Health Care facilities has been identified as a remedy to balance sheet issues that run from $100,000 to millions of dollars.

Audited financial statements published by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia showed underfunded liabilities in the categories of the Trust and Loan Fund, the Self Insurance Reserve, the Priests’ Pension Plan and the Lay Employees’ Retirement Plan, the archdiocese reported.

Tuesday’s announcement noted the impact on the facilities’ current employees and residents and the intention to maintain the Catholic identity.

“Current nursing home staff members will become employees of CMG effective on the closing date at their current rate of base pay and with reasonable protection packages if the employee is not retained in the first year,” according to the statement from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

All current residents will also be retained at their respective facilities, “regardless of payor status,” the archdiocese states.

A list detailing CMG’s agreement to uphold the homes’ Catholic identity includes provisions such as maintaining Roman Catholic priests as chaplains, keeping existing chapels and places of worship as well as religious signs and symbols and regularly celebrated Masses and sacraments.

A St. Mary Manor resident for the past two and half years, Rev. Joseph Matz, shared with the group his “horror story” about a past nursing home purchase he experienced.

Matz, a past priest in the Archdiocese of Scranton, previously a resident at Lackawanna Health Care Center, said that the new ownership laid off staff, tried to break unions and that the overall quality of care diminished. Those changes caused Matz to move to St. Mary Manor.

“I don’t have a home or anywhere else to go,” Matz said. “In past experience I know the people won’t get the same care.”

Mary Jane Rosso, a resident at Immaculate Mary Home for the past four years, will turn 91 on Oct. 10. She took a shuttle provided by the home to St. Mary Manor for the discussion.

“Let’s face it ... we’re all old,” Rosso said. “In our age this uncertainty is very unsettling.”